Chap. IV.]

THE LOTTERY SYSTEM.

423

the desperate chance of retrieving their losses, they have betray-ed the confidence of their station, have been detected and dis-graced, and ultimately have been forced from the bosom of theirfamilies and their homes ; rupturing the closest and most sacredties of nature and affinity, and leaving those, whom they ought tohave protected, a charge on the community.

Numerous instances might be adduced of persons yet in boy-hood, clerks, and apprentices, who, singly and in combination,have purloined the property of their masters and employers, tomeet the demands of continued disappointment in lottery specu-lations. Still another class might be mentioned, consisting ofyoung men just freed from the control of guardians and friends,with a sufficient patrimonial inheritance to enable them to employtheir time and talents usefully to the community, and advanta-geously and honorably to themselves ; but who, ignorant of the truecharacter of lottery schemes, have deliberately invested their all,in order to realize the sudden, certain, and independent fortunes,which are so lavishly promised by the lottery schemes, whichmeet their eyes at almost every step they take.* But on this(the moral) part of the subject, something more than a meresummary of the evils seems to be called for.

1. The system has reduced to insolvency very great numbers,who, before being drawn away by its seductions, were in pros-perous circumstances. Few persons, when they have once per-mitted themselves to be drawn fairly within its influence, haveescaped pecuniary ruin. By a transcript from “ the records ofthe Insolvent Court for the city and county of Philadelphia,”prepared from the petitions themselves, which were deliberatelysworn or affirmed to by the petitioners, and which is now lyingbefore me, it appears, that between March term, 1830, and Sep-tember term, 1833, there were fifty-five cases of insolvency,which were ascribed to the ruinous effects of the lottery system.This fact indicates the magnitude of this one branch of the evilof the system, during the period of not much more than threeyears, and within the narrow precincts of the county of Philadel-phia. It is certain, too, that the records of the court do not

* Report of a Committee of the citizens of Philadelphia, appointed to investi-gate the evils of Lotteries, &c., made on the 12th of December, 1831.